Stress, Self Regulation and Psychosocial Risk in Hospitalized Children

Abstract

The child hospitalization results in deprivations and restrictions, providing adverse experiences and psychic suffering. Hospitalization affects the family environment, which may exacerbate the effects of stressful events. These study aimed to analyze the relationships between the variables psychosocial risk, temperament and stress. The study included 31 children aged between 5 and 7 years (M= 5.83, SD= 0.82), hospitalized in a public hospital in Cuiaba-MT. The form ‘Children’s Behavior Questionnaire - Very Short Form’ was individually administered to caregivers along with the psychosocial evaluation – ‘Psychosocial Assessment Tool’. The results indicated: a) more families with moderate psychosocial risk; b) infant facilitator temperament, however, more “discomfort” for girls (p= 0.033, U= 65.50); c) children with low psychosocial risk presented lower scores for an anger/ frustration subscale, higher scores for attention and inhibitory control subscales; d) children with higher familial risk indicated a positive relation with a subscale of anger/frustration and negative relation with increasing reactivity/capacity to calm and inhibitory control. The difficulties of self-regulation of children from families with higher psychosocial risk can show the impact to f hospitalization stressors, requiring attention and care from health professionals. Such results can support interventions aimed at the family profile.